Sunday, 26 February 2017

Good is Enough: A Review of 'Secret of the Princess' (2012-5 manga)

Sometimes, a well-done love story is enough.
In Milk Morinaga yuri oeuvre, there’s
manga with more depth and scope. While such qualities can elevate a work to
greatness, a merely decent story is nothing to scoff at. Secret of the Princess somewhat explores the shackles of
heteronormativity, but this seems thematic gravy to what is a well-done yuri love story.

Miu’s mother raised her to snag a prince.
Miu lives by her mother’s advice, making herself cute and girly so she can
marry a handsome guy. Trouble is, she goes to an all-girls’ school. For all her
girliness, Miu’s had no practise dating. What if she finds the one only to mess up their first date? When Fujiwara, Miu’s
tomboyish upperclassman, smashes a vase, she begs Miu to keep quiet. She’ll do
anything in return. Anything. Miu demands she and Fujiwara start dating – just so
Miu can practise for her future prince, of course. But is Miu’s prince closer
than she thinks.

So, yeah, this is a high school, lesbian
awakening story. Not exactly a drought of that in the yuri genre. When Miu utters the inevitable ‘But we’re both girls’,
you hear cacophonous echoes from the entire genre. In Morinaga’s own body of
work, we find further variations on this theme. But Morinaga recites this theme
well. Although she developed it with more emotional depth in her five volume Girlfriends, and with more variety in
her short-story collection Kisses, Sighs
and Cherry Blossom Pink, this new work does not feel clichéd in comparison.
Even if Secret uses familiar pieces,
you can’t deny they fit together.

Secret
focuses on Miu’s awakening and struggle. She has
internalised her mother’s well-meant, but wrong-headed, advice to be a cute
girl waiting to ‘snag a great guy’. (That is, after all, ‘what every girl
dreams of’.) From time to time, Miu will put her mother’s sage wisdom into
action. Thus we get the irony of Miu applying such heteronormative gems as ‘Men
sometimes put others on the spot … A good woman … can subtly guide the
conversation in the direction she wants’ to a homosexual relationship.

Thankfully, Miu is not too snared by
heteronormativity. She does not hem-and-haw for the entire book over whether
she is a lesbian. Not that uncertainty over one’s sexuality is an unworthy
topic for a story. Morinaga explored it to great effect in Girlfriends. I merely feel that in this work, any hemming-and-hawing
beyond what is present would have merely served to create conflict, rather than
explore character. By the midpoint, her conflict switches from ‘How can I
prepare myself for my future husband’ to ‘How can I avoid scaring away my
crush.’

And, yes, this does descend into the cliché
of both characters loving each other, but refusing to admit it, for fear their
love is unrequited and would scare off the other. The dramatic irony is so
thick you almost gag on it. Almost. As this is a short work, this old chestnut
can’t grow too old.

Our other lover, Fujiwara, has less of an
arc than Miu. This is for the best, as she works better as a love interest than
a focal character. She is athletic, pretty, rich, and what failings she has are
endearing. She exists to show Miu that a girl can be her Prince. To Morinaga’s
credit, Fujiwara’s Princeliness never slips into unbelievability. Fujiwara is
not a check-list of desirable traits in a romantic partner. She’s that kid at
school who’s more skilled and popular than you.

Although Fujiwara doesn’t have a deep
character arc, the one she has improves the story. Your friends and lovers
change you. Morinaga could have written this as a one-way track, where only Miu
is changed by Fujiwara. Morinaga fleshes out the relationship by having Miu
further Fujiwara’s arc. Fujiwara wants friends, but has none, because her
seeming perfection intimidates her peers. Miu facilitates a meeting between
Fujiwara and girls with similar interests. Just as Fujiwara improves Miu’s
life, Miu improves Fujiwara’s.

Secret of the Princess is just a well
done yuri story. Our heroines are
believable, their love develops at a decent pace, and they don’t get too bogged-down in the melodramatic ‘but
what if she doesn’t feel the way I feel’. If you’re a fan of Morinaga, pick up
this book. If you’re new to her, however, her previous works, Girlfriends and Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink, better exhibit her artistry.